A forgotten past and a bright future
by CherryblossomFire21
Summary: Minato was supposed to have died yet somehow he ended up seven years in the future and in his seven year old body. Now he has to deal with growing up alongside his overzealous son, a moody Uchiha, and a fiery kunoichi that reminds him of someone that he desperately wishes he could remember. From academy days to making genin this story chronicals Minato;s life as a time traveler.
1. Chapter 1

SO I'm going to post this story because my other Min/Saku story is almost finished! This is another time travel fic but this time Minato is going forward in the future and Sakura is going to be a refugee from the land of snow! Anyways on with the story! I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

* * *

He was floating in a sea of white nothingness when all he wanted was to be with someone... Who it was he couldn't really remember anymore. All he could remember was a small baby with spiky blonde hair like his...It was his son that much he could remember. But there was something else he was yearning for, something that he would not find no matter how much he looked for it.

But he was dead right? Wasn't he? He had the vague feeling that that was supposed to be the case and yet... The world shifted around him and rushed into his senses muddling his already hazy mind until he could take it no longer and finally relented and let it take him. He had no power here...He was weightless here...Where here was he had no idea, nor did he know where it was taking him. He supposed he would just have to wait and see.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk working diligently on several reports for various completed missions and refugees requesting entry into the leaf when one of his shinobi poofed into his office. He looked up from his work at Kakashi. "Kakashi." He greeted.

"Hokage-sama." The Hatake greeted back briskly well as briskly as his lazy countenance could sustain. "A young boy has been found in the forest right outside of the village."

"And? You brought him in right?" He pressed with interest. This boy could be a great number of things from an enemy to a lost child. They needed to bring him in and ascertain who he was and what he was doing in the forest near their village.

The Hatake suddenly became much more serious in his interaction with him. "Yes we did bring him in but... He looks just like Minato Sensei." That obviously troubled Kakashi greatly from the troubled look shining deep in his one visible onyx eye.

It troubled him too because Minato's body had not been found even though Kushina's had. Minato had been a master of space time seals so could he have possibly...no he could not have reverted his body back to a child state through his seals. It had to be an imposter disguising themselves as him. "Did you have Inochi do a mind and chakra examination?"

"Inochi-san is working on it right now Hokage-sama." Kakashi answered.

"Very well Kakashi, I will go and check into this matter right away. You may return to your duties unless I call for you." With that he stood up and completely dismissed the jounin and made his way out the door and towards the T&I department. He would see this Minato look alike for himself.

* * *

Spiky blonde hair with chin length forelocks framed a childlike yet still refined facial structure. Even in sleep the boy looked troubled like there was something of importance that he was straining to remember...This boy looked exactly like Minato did at that age. "Inochi?"

The Yamanaka turned to him and nodded sagely. "The chakra signature matches Minato-sama signature to a letter though it is smaller than it used to be. He also has detailed memories on Hokage level seals and protocols that are only used in our village. Also there are vivid memories of his time in the village. And it is my personal opinion that they are all real memories and not something that has been forged to fool us." Inochi stopped speaking and turned sky blue pupil-less eyes back on the seven year old Namikaze. "What do we do with him?"

He didn't even need to think about it. "We introduce him to his son and see what he would like to do after that." And hope for the best...

* * *

Everything was fuzzy when he came to and blinked his eyes rapidly to clear them enough to see. He was in a white room that looked to be a hospital room is his memories were correct. But why was he here? Hadn't he died?

The silence of the room only lasted for another split second before the door slammed open and someone rushed over to his bed. A head of spiky blonde hair and ocean blue eyes suddenly thrust itself into his line of vision. "HI I'M NARUTO UZUMAKI AND I'M GONNA BE HOKAGE ONE DAY!"

Through everything he said the only thing he could think was that this boy reminded him of someone that he couldn't remember. And this boy looked a lot like him too.

"Naruto-kun get off of the bed and wait in the hall for a moment." A familiar voice commanded.

Naruto pouted before he jumped off of the bed and ran out the door slamming it after he did.

His eyes landed on the one who had spoken and once they did they practically bugged out of his skull. "H-Hiruzen-sama? But I thought that I was dead!" But he couldn't be if he was staring the former Hokage down! What was happening?

"I thought you were dead as well Minato but your body was never recovered." Hiruzen approached his bed and sat in a chair near him. "Minato what do you remember?"

"I remember the Kyuubi attacking the village...though I do not recall where it came from. I also remember fighting it with Gamabunta, and then going after the one who controlled it. After that it got really hazy...I remember using the reaper death seal to seal it inside of my son but...after that it's all a blank and I feel like I'm forgetting something important." Something that made his heart ache painfully in his chest with a need to be filled again. But what was it that he had forgotten?

"Hmm." Hiruzen stared him down with a weighing gaze for several long intense moments of silence. "Minato you appear to have traveled forward in time by seven years. I do not know how this happened, nor do I know why your memories are so fractured...But I do know that the village needs you and not just the village but your son. Naruto needs you."

"N-Naruto?" The boy that looked so much like him was his son? In some part of his mind there was a familiarity when the boy stared him down but...to think that he was alive and able to be a part of his life even if he was somehow the same age as Naruto. It was some sort of miracle or curse, though which one it was he was not truly sure of yet. What he did know was that he was going to make the most of it while he could.

"I think it would be best if you two posed as brothers that way we can keep your real identity a secret from enemy ninja. From this day forward you will be known as Minato Uzumaki."

"I was just thinking that it would be best for me to keep my identity a secret as well. At least until I reach the same level that I was on." Which would take a while if the way he felt, and his chakra levels were any indication. He felt like he did in his genin days...though he still retained most of his knowledge of his jutsu and battle experience.

"Then that settles it Minato. Starting tomorrow you will attend the academy with Naruto. As for today we should get you properly supplied for your studies, as well as moving you two into the apartment that I have procured for Naruto for when he can afford to live in it. I have kept all of your accounts active for Naruto when he's older but now I can just leave them to you since I am sure you will need a means to care for yourself and your brother."

The way he said that made him think that caring for Naruto was going to be a major chore or something...For some reason he was absolutely sure that it was in fact going to be a major pain. "Ok Hokage-sama I will get everything taken care of. You just make sure that you get me signed up for classes starting tomorrow."

"Of course Minato-kun." Hiruzen chuckled and stood up to leave the room. He paused near the door however and pointed to the end of the bed. "There's a change of clothes for you courtesy of Naruto-kun."

He looked towards the end of the bed where he spied a dark blue pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt as well as a white short sleeved vest with a high collar. That was just like what he used to wear when he was younger...Huh? Maybe his son didn't have bad style.

Orange. When he first walked out of the room he got an absolute eyeful of orange. Naruto was completely decked out in a bright orange jumpsuit. Something about it seemed familiar but he was unable to remember how so. "Uh Naruto right?"

"Yup dattebayo! I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto gave him a thumbs up and a smile.

Which actually caused him to smile back because his son was so exuberant. "Well Naruto I need to get some things for my first day at the academy tomorrow do you want to come with?"

"Sure thing dattebayo!"

"Good let's go then." He grabbed Naruto's arm and dragged him out of the hospital and down the road towards the weapons shop. Everything was right where he remembered it being so it was easy to find it. One thing that he did note however was the way that the villagers looked at Naruto when they walked by.

Hate.

Disdain.

Anger.

Malice.

Each and every one of their gazes were filled with some sort of negative emotion. For a moment he wanted to ask himself why but the answer came to him before he even got the chance to ask himself. The Kyuubi. Each and every one of them hated Naruto for being the Jinchuuriki. They hated him for something that was not his fault.

Anger welled up inside of him. He wanted to tell them to back off and stop looking at him like that but he resisted. It would do no good and Naruto seemed happy enough just to be with him so he let it be.

They walked into the weapons shop and he immediately shot over to the kunai and shuriken section. He grabbed several sets of each along with a weapons pouch, and a shuriken holster. Once he was done with that he walked over to the clothing section and grabbed several sets of dark blue pants, shirts, and several high collared vests similar to the one he wore. Later he would go to an actual clothing store and get a bigger selection but he wasn't worried about it right now. With his selections in hand he walked over to the checkout counter and sat the items down to be rung up.

The checkout clerk glared at Naruto with hate while he bagged their items and gave him his total.

He paid it with the large sack of gold that the Hokage had given him and grabbed his things before making a hasty exit with Naruto right behind him.

At some point he really needed to talk to Hiruzen about the way the villagers treated Naruto. But he would save it for later after he had settled in more fully. For now he would just be Naruto's constant companion and offer him everything that he could. It would have to be enough until he could talk to Hokage-sama.

* * *

The next morning he stood outside of his classroom waiting to be called in by the Chunin instructor in charge of the class.

"Come on in Minato!" Iruka called.

He slid the doors open and stepped into the room discreetly eyeing each student scattered about the room. The clan members instantly stood out to him with their unique traits and markings, from the Inuzuka boy with wild brown hair and red cheek crests, to a blonde haired Yamanaka girl that was eyeing him flirtatiously, all the way to the Akimichi boy eating his potato chips... They were all watching him when he stopped next to Iruka and introduced himself. "I'm Minato Uzumaki and I'm Naruto's brother. I hope that I get along well with all of you." When he was finished he looked up at Iruka expectantly.

"You may sit next to your brother then Minato." Iruka gestured to the back where Naruto was sitting waving at Naruto happily as he did so.

At least one person besides the Hokage was being kind to his son. He walked up the stairs between the isles towards the top middle row in the back where Naruto was sitting. As he walked by he could hear people whispering about him, mostly girls saying that he was handsome and other such nonsense. But as he was walking around the top row his eyes landed on yet another boy that seemed familiar to him.

Spiky onyx hair and dark onyx eyes filled with anger and loneliness... Girls sat around him and giggled and flirted with him and he paid them no mind.

Sasuke. He remembered Mikoto and Fugaku welcoming another member into their family...someone had told him... And once again he became frustrated with himself because he could not remember who. Whatever the case the boy seemed miserable and hateful... He would keep an eye on him from now on. Though he wondered how Mikoto could raise such a hateful child?

* * *

The weeks went by while he busied himself with studying his jutsu and class work, spent time with Naruto and the Hokage, and warded off his new fan girls. The worst of which was Ino Yamanaka fangirl extraordinaire and his and Sasuke's number one stalker...

She stalked him to class and home after class and even during his walks around the village. It was just plain annoying even though he couldn't bring himself to be mean to her just because he didn't like her like that.

In fact she was stalking him to class right now...again...and even Naruto was getting annoyed with her. But he just gestured for Naruto to ignore her and go to his seat once they entered the class. They made their way to the top row and sat down while she finally took the hint and went to bother Sasuke who just glared at her...which made her swoon like an idiot.

Iruka walked in and gestured for everyone to be quiet. "Alright everyone we have a new classmate joining us today from the Land of Snow! I want you all to be kind to her and make her feel at home! Come on in!"

The door opened and a girl walked in and stopped next to Iruka.

Everyone was staring her down with slack jaws...

Even him but he was staring her down for other reasons. His eyes took in the long pink hair that hung down to her thighs in a loose braid, those big green eyes that shone with sadness, her slightly large forehead, her small button nose, and the small pout on her lips. She reminded him of someone or something...and she was the prettiest thing he had seen since he came here.

"Introduce yourself Sakura." Iruka urged gently.

Sakura just stared at everyone with a small scowl on her lips before she followed her instructions. "My name is Sakura Haruno and I'm from the Land of Snow." She trailed off quietly for a moment before she clenched her fists and yelled. "AND I'M GOING TO BE THE BEST DAMN MEDICAL NINJA YOU'VE EVER SEEN!"

His jaw dropped as did everyone else's in the room well besides Naruto who started cheering her on. Now she was really reminding him of someone that he still couldn't remember. There was just a sense of familiarity about her.

"Sakura language!" Iruka scolded her sternly. "Go and sit in the back next to Minato. Minato raise your hand."

So he did and he watched as the pink haired girl stalked up the steps and slid into the seat next to him.

Her green eyes slid over to him and narrowed on him warily.

'Ok Minato get a grip! You're twenty three years old and you are in the body of a seven year old...but you're still an adult even if you're in a child body.'

'Yeah but if we're stuck here we might as well make friends and other relationships right?'

'Well yeah but...she's seven.'

'And by some miracle so are you. No one is saying that you have to do anything like that, but don't immediately rule it out. Just go with the flow.'

Right! He didn't have to do anything but he should be open to anything as well. It wasn't like he had a crush on her or anything she just reminded him of something that he was desperately trying to find. That was all! He would be her friend and that was good enough! Right...?

* * *

The boy sitting next to her was weird...He kept staring at her and smiling softly while she wrote her notes down in her notebook. Though she really didn't need to because she already knew all of this from her time spent in her home country. She frowned and tried to fight off the memories of the war, of watching people die...Even though they hated her because of what she was...she had still wanted to be loved by them.

She shook those thoughts off when the bell rang signalling that it was lunch time. She flipped her notebook shut and grabbed her lunch from under her desk before opening it.

She grabbed her sweet dumplings and bit one off of the end and chewed the sweet dough. While she was eating she opened a book on medical ninjutsu and scanned the contents eagerly. Growing up in a war zone made her want to save lives so she had decided to become a medical ninja when she had come here. Her chakra control was very advanced for her age so she was sure that she could do it.

Several shadows fell over her making her groan and look up at the group of kids that were staring her down with disdain. "Can I help you?"

A boy with short brown hair stepped forward from the group and slapped her lunch off of her desk. "Stupid foreigner!" He spat and stomped on the remains of her lunch.

She just sat calmly even though her anger was building up already. Her uncle had always told her that she needed to get a hold on her temper so she resisted the urge to beat his face in.

"You're so ugly! Why don't you go back to the Land of Snow?" One of the girls with black hair declared.

All of the other kids laughed and started calling her names.

"Forehead!"

"Look at that ugly pink hair!"

"There's nothing wrong with having pink hair! My mama was an Uzumaki and she had red hair, and my papa was a Haruno and he had white hair!" She argued even though it hurt to talk about the parents that she had only ever known from pictures. She clamped down on her despair and channeled it into anger instead.

The boy who had knocked her lunch onto the floor stepped forward and grabbed a section of her pink bangs before tugging on it. "You're so-"

But she didn't even give him a chance to finish that statement before she lunged at him and tackled him to the floor where she started punching him in the face. "DON'T EVER MAKE FUN OF MY HAIR OR MY FOREHEAD!" She screamed.

Some of the other kids started trying to pull her off of the boy but she lashed out and struck at anyone that touched her.

Tears built up in her eyes as she pounded away furiously at the boy's face drawing blood even after he begged her to stop. All she could see was her kinsmen looking at her like that and sneering at her when all she wanted was to be accepted by them. When all she wanted was to be able to express her love for them openly...Something that she would never get the chance to do.

Shouting assaulted her ears before she was roughly yanked off of the boy by Iruka-sensei. "Sakura stop! That's enough!"

She went limp and let him drag her out of the classroom and right past the quiet blonde boy that she sat next to. He looked at her sympathetically when she was dragged by him and she sneered at him. She didn't need sympathy from anyone!

* * *

Hiruzen stared down at the pinkette sitting across from him sadly. Iruka had informed him that she had attacked another student but he didn't believe that there was no reason for it. Sakura was aggressive and outspoken, but she was also kind and compassionate underneath all of the pain she was being subjected to. Her whole country was practically in ruins and she was in a Land that was alien to her. In ways she was a lot like Kushina...almost a mirror image when he took into consideration the... No he needed to find out what exactly had happened to make her so angry. "Sakura why don't you tell me what happened in class today so I can attempt to fix it?"

She just glared at him with tears rapidly building up in her eyes again.

"Sakura I want to help you but I can't do that if you don't tell me what's wrong." He pressed gently.

"They were making fun of me because of my forehead and hair...one of them even knocked my lunch off of my desk and stomped on it. But I didn't do anything even though I was angry because my Uncle always told me that I needed to work on controlling my temper so I did try! But then they started calling me names and that boy pulled my hair! So I tackled him and beat his face in!" She scowled down at the floor.

"Ah I see." He mused quietly while he recollected over how much she was actually like Kushina. In fact he was certain that something similar had happened on the redhead's first day in the academy as well, and she had ended up in his office too. "Sakura I know that things are hard for you right now but I am here for you should you ever need to talk. I want you to feel at home here because this is your home now."

"But I'm foreign..." She protested.

"And so are most of the clans that now preside over the village. When a village is established it is built off of people from foreign lands traveling from their homes to live there. Everyone who lives here has a background that stems from somewhere else so they are all descended from foreigners." He explained in the hopes that she would understand. Life had truly been cruel to this girl to burden her with that...and to take away everyone that she had ever aspired to gain acceptance from. She had truly been left with nothing to call her own and that called to his heart making him want to comfort her. But there was only so much that he could do to help her due to his position and that was why he had put her in a class with Minato and Naruto because he was sure that those two would be able to help her.

Her eyes brightened slightly though the sadness still swirled in their depths. "Really?"

"Really Sakura-chan. Now I want you to promise me that you will try and behave yourself from now on alright? And if you have any problems I want you to come to me."

"I will Hokage jii-chan!" She offered him a tentative smile before she jumped out of her chair and dashed towards the door.

He smiled after she left. "Yes she is definitely a lot like Kushina."

* * *

R&R! What did you guys think?


	2. Chapter 2

Delays delays how I hate you so! There's never enough time for me to do all my writing anymore! I hope to get everything back on track soon enough so be patient and enjoy this update! I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

* * *

She was trying to be better in class for Hokage jii-chan. She wrote her notes down and concentrated really hard in class and she never started trouble. At least she was trying not to but the other kids still didn't seem to like her that much. In fact none of them would even talk to her. It made her sad but she was used to it. No one had wanted to talk to her in her home country besides her uncle so she had grown up alone.

Right now the class was practicing taijutsu in the courtyard. She was standing all by herself next to the tree watching the blonde boy known as Naruto sparring with another boy with raven hair named Sasuke. Naruto was goofy and he made mistake after mistake with his movements. Even she could see the patterns leading up to him getting knocked flat on his butt again. Which happened time after time.

The other students would laugh at Naruto and call him names whenever he was around. It made her sad to see it because she knew how he felt. In her home country, and even here she was an outsider who was not liked by anyone. Naruto was a kindred spirit.

The other girls would giggle at Sasuke and blush, then they would mock Naruto and call him a loser. They would keep telling him that he would never beat their Sasuke-kun! She wanted to laugh at them because Sasuke-kun looked like he hated them.

Naruto slammed into the ground again and skidded to a stop. Iruka-sensei called an end to the spar. "That's enough you two. Head back to the sidelines for now."

The two glared at each other and returned to their respective places. Naruto next to his brother Minato, and Sasuke off to the side alone. Well he was alone until his fan girls swarmed around him.

"Kyaaaah! Sasuke-kun you are so awesome!" Ino Yamanaka gushed flirtatiously.

"I know wasn't he?" A purple haired girl named Ami swooned.

"Hn." Sasuke sneered at them and turned away while they continued to gush over him.

She shook her head at them. How pathetic. Kiba and Shino were called up to spar next. She turned away in disinterest and pulled out a medical textbook to read instead. Just when she opened it however two shadows loomed over her causing her to look up.

The two blonde boys were standing before her Naruto with a stupid grin on his face, and Minato with a soft smile. "Umm could we sit here with you?" Minato asked politely.

She looked around to make sure that they were talking to her and not someone else. But sure enough she was the only one here. Well that was odd... "Uhh yeah you can sit here." She answered while burying her face in her book again. People never wanted anything to do with her so she wasn't sure what to do.

Both boys sat on either side of her and Naruto was the one that started talking to her first. "So Sakura-chan how are you liking Konoha so far?"

Not what she expected from the knucklehead at all. "Well it's...hot." And boy was it ever. In her home country they were lucky if it rose above ten degrees in any season but summer.

Naruto laughed at her. "It's not hot Sakura-chan! You just have cold blood!"

She felt her eye twitch. "Well I was born in the land of snow." Mentioning her homeland made her stomach clench. Everything that she knew was gone forever. Her uncle...the only one that had ever loved her.

"What's it like there?" Naruto pressed excitedly.

"Well it's always cold even in the summer and you can almost never see the grass. It's always covered in ice and there are giant ice tigers wandering around." She put her book back into her bag so that she could look at Naruto.

His bright blue eyes lit up. "Really?" Awe was dripping off of his voice.

"Really."

"So it must be hard to come from a place like that to Konoha huh?" This time it was Minato who asked.

She turned to look at him oddly. "Well yeah it is hard. Especially adapting to the climate here that's the hardest part. But I actually like it here and it's not quite as hard as I expected it to be." She could probably attribute that to her mama's Uzumaki blood. Uzumaki's hailed from a distant island land that was always boiling hot. Her uncle had told her stories about when he and her mama had been growing up there. He also told her that she was named after the cherry blossom trees that bloomed there.

Minato made a small noise in the back of his throat. "Well that's good. Adapting to new places can be really hard so it's a good thing that it seems pretty easy for you."

"Yeah." They lapsed into a strangely comfortable silence. It was odd for her because silence usually meant that she was being ignored but now that was not the case. Was this what it was like to have friends? Would they really want to be her friend? She opened her mouth to ask when the most recent spar came to an end.

"Alright you two head back so that the next two can come up." Iruka looked down at his list and called the next two names. "Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno please come up and take your places."

"Good luck Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered and gave her a small push.

"Thanks Naruto-kun." She smiled softly before she walked onto the field and took her spot opposite of the blonde girl. This would be her first spar with someone other than her uncle. That meant that it should be easy. She dropped into her stance and awaited to go ahead.

Across from her Ino was waving at Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun watch me teach the foreigner a lesson! I love you Sasuke-kun!" She yelled with a stupid smile on her face.

Iruka-sensei looked between the two of them. "Begin!"

Ino rushed towards her and dropped down to try and sweep her legs out from under her. "For Sasuke-kun!" She hollered.

She easily jumped up over the other girl's head and used her hands to steady herself before spinning and kicking Ino square in the face. Her body slumped into a perfect crouch on the ground. "You should fight to prove your strength to yourself and not some boy that doesn't even like you." She mocked Ino.

The blonde girl pulled herself up from the ground and wiped the blood off of her chin with a nasty glare pointed in her direction. "Shut up forehead!" She shrieked and rushed at her again.

Fist after fist came her way and she dodged them all easily. If she wanted to be a medical ninja evasion was an cery important skill so dodging attacks was something that she practiced day in and day out. Dodging Ino's attacks was as easy as performing a basic clone jutsu.

Frustration showed clearly on the other girl's face. "Why can't I hit you?!" She growled before once again dropping down and trying to sweep her legs.

This time she flipped back over herself and landed on her feet before she moved into a series of punches and kicks that her uncle taught her. It was an advanced style from her homeland that Ino was not at all prepared to counter.

But she still tried dodging and weaving between attacks catching one here and there. "Argh forehead I'm going to beat you!" She blocked a punch with her forearm and spun around taking her feet out from under her and tossing her overhead.

Her pink locks flew around her as her body buckled elegantly over itself before she landed perfectly on her feet opposite of Ino.

"Wha?! How do you keep doing that?!" Ino screamed in outrage.

A smirk tilted at the corners of her mouth. "Maybe because I train all day every day unlike you! Maybe if you spent less time doing your hair and more time working on your jutsu you wouldn't be getting shown up by a foreigner Ino pig!"

Ino glared at her and shrieked in rage again. And once again she lunged at her sloppily.

The smirk quickly fell off of her lips at the blatantly sloppy attempt at an attack. She sighed and spun around Ino's unprotected side before bringing her knee up and kneeing Ino in the stomach. There was no fun to be had in fighting such an easy opponent.

Ino dropped to the ground and wheezed heavily. "Ughhh forehead this isn't over...For Sasuke-kun..." She coughed out weakly.

But Iruka stepped in before the pointless spar could commence again. "Alright ladies that's enough for now. Class is almost over for the day."

Ino forced herself up and glared at her heatedly. "I will get you forehead for embarrassing me in front of Sasuke-kun!" She declared.

"Well I look forward to it because maybe you'll take your training seriously now that you have a half way decent goal." Was all she said before she turned on her heel and stalked back over to her sitting buddies.

"Way to go Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered.

"Well done Sakura-chan." Minato offered her a soft smile.

"Thanks." She bent down and grabbed her bag before slinging it over her shoulders. Now that she was back with them her earlier question about their relationship was plaguing her again. But how could she broach the subject without embarrassing herself? "Umm does this mean that we're friends?" She winced at how weak her voice sounded when she voiced her question.

Both boys looked at each other before turning back to her with identical grins. "You bet dattebayo!"

Minato just nodded with a soft smile pulling at his lips.

She felt happier then she ever thought she could after everything that she had been through. For the first time she had friends, people other then her uncle to talk to! Was her uncle watching her from heaven and smiling at her as if to say I told you so? She would bet that he was, and she would admit that he was right. There was a place for her in this world and now there was other people to share it with.

* * *

After the academy let out she was walking down a worn dirt path overlooking a large crystal clear lake. The wind was rushing through her hair and twining the long pink strands of her bangs around her face. She batted the strands away and paused when she noticed a familiar figure standing on the end of a wooden dock.

"Sasuke?" She murmured quietly to herself.

It seemed that she was not quiet enough because he turned around with the ever present glare on his face. "Hn. What do you want? Are you here to fawn over me like an idiot?"

Why that self absorbed ass! "No. I was just walking by and I saw you."

He didn't look convinced when he turned around and overlooked the water again. "Sure. You're probably lying. Everyone knows that all of the girls in our class are obsessed with either me or Minato. That makes you all annoying." He muttered.

She could feel the angry blush heating her cheeks at his words. "Now you listen here you jerk! I do not like you like that at all so get over yourself! I barely even know you! Why would I like someone that I don't know the first thing about?" Was it an Uchiha thing to be an asshole?

"Hn." Was all he said in response before he started making hand signs for a jutsu.

She just watched curiously as his hands flashed through the signs and ended on the tiger sign. Fire style?

"Fire style: Fire ball jutsu!"

A large blast of fire shot out from Sasuke's mouth stretching out over the pristine surface of the lake and causing steam to rise from the water.

She made a mental note that Sasuke was a fire elemental for later use. Another thing that she filed away for later use was that this lake was a great training spot. One that she planned on making full use of later.

The large ball of fire slowly died down after a moment and Sasuke heaved a shaky sigh. His onyx eyes slanted over her way again in another scalding glare. "Are you still here?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" She shot back as she walked down the slope to stand beside him on the dock.

For a moment Sasuke just stared at her like he was trying to figure her out.

But she ignored him and sat down to dangle her feet in the water. She peered down at her reflection and in her own face she saw her mama staring back at her. During times like this when the world was quiet she would often wonder what they were like. Her uncle had told her stories but she had never actually met her parents. They had died when she was born because of that... Something in her stirred in response to that thought though it quickly died down.

Sasuke plopped down beside her with his eyes still trained on her. "You act different then other girls." He said simply. There was a look in his eyes, something fleeting that she felt she could relate to.

"I was raised differently than the girls here I guess." She supplied after she took her eyes off of her reflection and stared back at Sasuke. Her uncle had always taught her to take her training seriously and to never give up on her dreams. So she worked hard every day to make her dreams come true. She wanted to be a world renowned medical ninja so that she could save lives. She wanted to be accepted by others. And she would do everything in her power to make her dreams come true. She could see it in Sasuke's eyes that he thought the same way that she did. Had he suffered like she had?

Said boy was just staring down into the water with a strange expression on his face. Such sadness and sorrow. He knew how she felt too didn't he? "Yeah I can see that. You aren't stalking me or bursting my eardrums with your high pitched screams yet."

"I don't see the point in fawning over boys. Maybe when I'm older and I've accomplished everything I set out to, then maybe I will look at boys in that light." She shrugged in a noncommittal manner.

He looked back at her with an intensely scrutinizing gaze. Something flashed through his eyes, some emotion that was gone as quickly as it had come. He relaxed slightly and got back to his feet. "Do you want to train here with me sometimes?"

"Sure I guess." It didn't seem like a big deal to her that he had asked. And she was already thinking that she should take advantage of this lake as a training field sometimes anyways. Why not have someone to train with?

"Hn. Let's start now." He said in his monotonous voice.

"Okay." Why did he seem so different than when he was around others? It was almost like he was human instead of an ice cube. She got to her feet and followed him over to a small grassy patch on the other side of the lake. In her head she was thinking that she had never had so much contact with anyone but her uncle before. It was still so weird.

* * *

After training with Sasuke for a few hours she had to say goodbye and go home to eat. Honestly she enjoyed Sasuke's company. He was quiet and he hardly talked but there was an intensity to him that most others didn't seem to have. She would definitely go back every few days and train with him.

As she walked through the village the villagers glared at her like she was some sort of monster. They knew about that... Someone had told and now the entire village was terrified of her. She just kept her head bowed and pushed her way through the dirt streets towards the small apartment building she lived in. Someone stopped in front of her causing her to run into them. She stumbled back and glared up at the older boy. "Can't you see me walking here?"

A bright leaf headband stood out on his forehead. A leaf genin. And one that did not look happy either. His brown eyes were narrowed into thin slits and his lips were pulled down in a snarl. "Watch where you're going foreigner!" He spat and pushed her.

She managed to stay on her feet instead of falling down. Never look weak in front of an enemy that's what her uncle always told her. "What did I do to you anyways? Why can't you just go home and leave me alone?"

"My sister told me what you did in class outsider." He took a calculated step forward and fell into an offensive stance. Other people were gathering around to see what happened.

The barely restrained anger coursing through her was reaching it's breaking point. Everyone was staring at her with hatred and disgust. Why? Why did everyone always look at her like that? Like her existence was wrong and she should've just died instead of being born! She clenched her fists and fought back tears. The air around her became hot and stifling like it did when she really got mad. She promised not to get into fights anymore! She couldn't break her promise to Hokage Jii-chan.

The boy grabbed a hold of her hair and yanked on it sending her stumbling forward. "How dare you come into our village and attack our people you outsider!?"

She did nothing while he viciously pulled her hair and started kicking her stomach. She had to try and be good for Hokage jii-chan because she promised.

Around her the other villagers cheered the boy on. Their voices carrying to her and making her want to cry.

"You teach her Daiki!"

"Show her that she doesn't belong here!"

"Tell her to take that thing and leave!"

Did they think that she wanted to be this? Did they think that if she had a choice she would have still taken the burden on? She was sure that she still would have but she was not the one that chose this time. Why was she being punished for other people's choices? That though made her anger grow even hotter. She didn't do anything!

Tugging herself free from the boy's hold she flew up to her feet and kicked him right in the jaw. "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO YOU!"

He stumbled back and held his jaw in his hand.

She flew after him and went to punch him in the face again. Someone flashed in front of him and caught her fist in their hand before she could.

A gray mask with red stripes stared down at her. Anbu.

"That is enough of this senseless violence. You all know Hokage-sama's orders so follow them."

The crowd quickly dispersed each and every person offering her one last glare before stalking off.

The boy turned to leave too but not before he offered her some 'kind' words. "Stupid outsider. You'll never be a kunoichi of Konoha." With those last words he left without looking back.

The anbu poofed away without saying anything else to her leaving her alone. Why was she always alone? She continued on her way home feeling confused and forlorn. Maybe she was wrong for making friends with Naruto, Sasuke, and Minato? What if they got bullied because of her?

* * *

The next morning found him and Naruto sitting in their seats waiting for Sakura to show up for class. For some reason he looked forward to seeing her as much as he looked forward to seeing his son whenever they were parted. She was becoming someone very precious to both of them.

A familiar head of pink hair entered the room and made it's way over to them. She sat down in her spot quietly and took out her supplies.

"Sakura-chan? Are you okay?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"Yeah I'm ok. I just don't feel good today."

He shared a look with Naruto. What was wrong with her today?

* * *

Throughout morning classes Sakura did not attempt to make conversation with them even though thet tried to talk to her. She would just nod along without really listening.

When lunch came she grabbed her stuff and practically ran out of the classroom. "Come on Naruto!" He ran after her with Naruto on his heels. They ran past the other students ignoring the waves and hollers, or the glares in Naruto's case.

He shoved the doors to the outside open and bounded down the stairs without pause. He caught a flash of pink shooting into the trees at the edge of the clearing and followed it. She was faster then he imagined she could be and that was saying something because he was the Yellow Flash.

They broke through the underbrush into a small clearing and there she was sitting under a tall tree with her lunch box. "Sakura-chan why did you run off?" He asked as he approached her and sat down.

"I wanted to think alone today." Was all she said in response.

Well that was a weird way to word it. "Well if you don't mind me asking what is bothering you?"

She paused in eating her bento box and put her chopsticks back down. Those bright green eyes slanted his way intensely. "...Nothing." With that she went back to eating.

He looked at Naruto again worriedly. Yesterday she had been so accepting and now she was pushing them away? Why? What had happened to make her do this?

Naruto scooted past him and into her personal space. "Sakura-chan you can tell us if something is wrong. We won't judge you or think less of you."

His brows shot into his hair in surprise. Was Naruto really being eloquant?

Sakura smirked and giggled softly. "Naruto-kun that sounds so wrong coming from you."

"Hey! I'm a genius in disguise you'll see!" Naruto protested in a joking manner.

"Sure."

"I am Sakura-chan I swear!"

"Ok Naruto-kun whatever you say." Sakura shook her head and sat her lunch box down to the side. The mood suddenly changed and became somber again in the space of a second.

They both felt the unrest and uncertainty wafting off of her in waves. "You can tell us Sakura-chan." He encouraged her.

Her eyes met his again and they were filled with such sadness and anger. "I'm not well liked in this village."

Something flashed through his mind. A blur of incomprehensible images that made his stomach drop. A flash of red and blue... What was that? "Sakura-chan what do you mean?"

She played with her black shorts nervously. "Yesterday a boy tried beating me up and the other villagers just watched the whole thing. They thought it was funny."

"Sakura-chan..." He murmured sadly. So that was it?

"So I was worried that you two might get bullied if you keep being my friends. I was thinking that I should just tell you to go away and leave me alone. But I was scared because I don't want to be alone anymore."

She was just like Naruto... But what about her made the villagers hate her so much? Perhaps he should go and talk to the Hokage about it?

"You shouldn't be alone Sakura-chan." Naruto offered her a small smile. "We'll be your friends no matter what happens dattebayo!"

"Yes what Naruto said. We'd rather be friends with you then be liked by everyone else."

"R-Really?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah we would! Besides brother you are the only friend I have! No way am I going to turn you away because of the villagers!" Naruto declared.

Sakura just looked at him in awe which quickly morphed into a small smile. "Thank you Naruto shannaro!"

In that moment she drew him in and captivated him even more. He still wondered what she was reminding him of.

* * *

R&R!


	3. Chapter 3

So on request there will be some Minato/Naruto quality time in here! Don't worry there will be some Sakura/Minato time too! Anyways on with the story! I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

* * *

"Brotherrrr why did you wake me up so early on the weekend?!" Naruto groaned out the sound quickly followed up by a loud yawn that made his jaw crack.

He shook his head at Naruto for his antics. "Naruto a ninja must get into the habit of being able to function properly with little sleep. Often times there will be missions that will force you to go for days at a time without it."

"Mmmmm..." Naruto moaned from where he was slumped against a tree.

Frowning at his son for not paying attention, he walked over to him and smacked him on the top of the head. "Pay attention Naruto!" He scolded. How was his son supposed to be a ninja if he couldn't even wake up and function normally?

At least that got Naruto to wake up somewhat. Blue eyes popped open groggily and almost glared up at him. "Yeah yeah! I'm awake brother." He stood up and dusted himself off with sluggish movements. "So are we just going to sit here and fight sleep as a training exercise? Or are you going to teach me something?"

He ignored the sarcasm heavily laden in his son's voice and opted to press on with what he had planned instead. "Well Naruto if you must know we are going to practice the clone jutsu." When Naruto opened his mouth to protest he waved him off quickly. "No buts Naruto! I've seen that you have problems making clones and you have to be able to do it to pass the graduation exam."

Naruto muttered something under his breath and clenched his fists tightly. He looked very disappointed in himself due to his inability to make a proper clone. "I keep trying really hard but it just won't work! Everyone else can do it but I'm the only one that can't!"

Something in his mind shifted again, a sense of knowing someone that had had this same problem before. But it was gone as quickly as it had come leaving him more confused about his traitorous mind. However it did serve to remind him that he knew what the problem was. Unlike the other students that suffered from lack of chakra control, Naruto had another strike against him and that was that he had too much chakra. "Naruto it isn't that your reserves are too small, rather it's that they're too big. When someone has too much chakra, and a lack of talent for chakra control it can make mastering even basic jutsu difficult. For you what is needed is practice! If you keep bettering your control in increments then I am sure that you can overcome this problem."

"Easy for you to say...your control is better then anyone else's in our class." Naruto muttered self deprecatingly.

"Actually I don't have the best control in the class Naruto. In fact I am only the second best in terms of chakra control and manipulation." And being a former Kage his control was as good as they come. Only the very best medical ninjas had better control than him. However there was one person that had a natural affinity for it that even had had not had.

Naruto instantly perked up with interest. "Really? Who is better then you?"

"Sakura is." He had trained with the girl several times since she had moved to Konoha and he felt safe in saying that she had much better control than he had at that age. Truthfully he was still better at this point because he had been a kage, however she would surpass his control long before she reached the age he had been. At least he was pretty sure that she would.

Naruto beamed at him accentuating the whisker marks on his face. "Sakura-chan is really awesome huh? Maybe she'll help me out later too!"

"Maybe." He agreed easily enough. "But for now I want you to concentrate on practicing the clone jutsu okay?"

"Yeah! Alright then here we go!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically before he made the hand sign for the clone jutsu. "Here we go! Clone jutsu!"

Instead of the small swell of chakra that accompanied this technique, a large swell came barreling out of Naruto. Right away he felt this and could tell that Naruto had used too much chakra.

And he was right too because as soon as the smoke faded there lay a crumpled up Naruto clone...and Naruto was just gaping down at it angrily. "Awww man! I am going to get this today I'm telling you dattebayo!" He once again made the necessary hand signs and yelled. "Clone jutsu!"

But the same thing happened all over again. A large swell of chakra, and a less then acceptable clone. He sighed and held up his hand to stop Naruto. "Naruto you're putting too much chakra into this. Try pulling back some okay?"

Naruto pouted but did as he was told. "Alright then! Clone jutsu!"

He sensed a small change in how much chakra was used, however it still was not enough to make a proper clone. When the smoke faded there was the ever present crumpled Naruto clone only this time it was looking less pale than before. Well it was progress right? "Try it again okay? And pull back a little more."

"Right! I can do this dattebayo!"

He was sure that Naruto could if he kept trying. So he sat down against a tree nearby and kept tabs over Naruto as he went through the motions over and over again. Something told him that this was going to be a long day.

* * *

Naruto had made some progress though he still had been unable to make more than one clone without messing them up. Progress was progress however and he decided that Naruto had done well today. So as a treat he decided to take his 'son' to Ichiraku's.

This of course had Naruto in a fantastic mood. "Yes ramen! I am going to eat so much ramen dattebayo!" Naruto laughed enthusiastically as they passed by random villagers.

Part of his attention was trained on Naruto, and another part was trained on the villagers who were glaring at him. After all the time he had spent here he still had not gotten used to it. However he also knew that he could never harm the villagers. Oh he could be angry at how they treated his son, but he would keep the anger to himself for now. Besides there were other things that he was worried about...like the lack of Uchihas in the village. By now he was positive that the elders had done something to the clan. But what it was he had not yet found out. That was going to change as soon as he had a moment to go and see the Hokage.

Ichiraku's came into view at that moment causing Naruto to take off running towards it. "RAMEN!"

His attention was quickly drawn back to his son and he followed after Naruto quietly. "Hello Teuchi." He greeted the owner of the stand when he stepped foot inside and sat on one of the stools next to Naruto.

"Hello Minato. I was expecting you seeing as how Naruto came in." The middle aged man sat down a bowl that he had been drying and called Ayame over. "So what'll it be?"

"Chicken ramen! Give me chicken ramen dattebayo!"

"Beef ramen, and Naruto sit down!" He yanked the boy down into his seat which he had forgone in favor of getting on top of the counter.

"Coming right up!" Teuchi laughed at Naruto's antics before disappearing into the back of the stand.

"So Naruto-kun have you been training hard?" Ayame asked pleasantly.

"You better believe I have! Brother was helping me with my clone jutsu today and I made real progress in mastering it!" Naruto exclaimed proudly.

"Really? That's good Naruto-kun! Soon you'll be a full fledged ninja!" Ayame giggled obviously taken with Naruto's exuberance.

"Heck yes I am going to be Hokage one day dattebayo!"

He watched the interaction between the two with a feeling of happiness warming his body. Teuchi, Iruka, Ayame, Hokage-sama, Sakura-chan, and himself were the only ones in the village that were nice to Naruto at all. He loved seeing his boy talking to someone other than him and not being ridiculed for the demon sealed inside of him.

Once again he was plagued by the unknown. Hadn't he known where Kurama had come from? Yet he could never seem to recall no matter how hard he tried. It was beginning to really frustrate him and what was worse was that he was sure that Hokage-sama knew though he was refusing to say. What could he be hiding from him?

Teuchi came back in and sat their bowls down in front of them. "Here you are boys! Enjoy!"

He gave his thanks for the food before digging into his bowl.

Naruto however did not have such manners and was rapidly slurping down his noodles like an animal, getting brother all over the counter in the process.

He laughed internally, once again being drawn in by Naruto's exuberance. However at that moment the bells rang above his head signalling that someone else had stepped into the small stand. He turned to look at whoever had come in, surprise catching him off guard when he saw that it was in fact Sakura who had walked in.

"Mmph hae Saphuwa mphan!" Naruto greeted around a mouthful of noodles.

"Uhh hi Naruto." Sakura gave him an intense stare before she seated herself at the counter as well. "Could I have the beef ramen please?"

"Coming right up!" Teuchi disappeared into the kitchen again to fill her order.

"Hi Minato."

"Hello Sakura-chan." He greeted back in between mouthfuls of food. "Were you training today?"

The pink haired girl smacked Naruto on the back when he started to choke whist answering. "Yeah I was training but I decided to come and get something to eat for lunch."

"Eating right is important. Though I wish that some people would eat something other then ramen." Here he gave Naruto a pointed look. Boy would turn down homemade cooking for instant ramen every time if he let him. Though he had to admit that he was no master chef, he was proficient in the kitchen however. None of that mattered to Naruto though when he had cup ramen to eat instead.

"Ramen is the food of the gods! Never speak ill of the ramen again lest they strike you down with their noodliness!" Naruto stopped eating long enough to say before tearing back into...another bowl?

When did he get another bowl? He looked at Ayame and she giggled at him for some odd reason. Ok so was it just him or was there a weird air around them right now? Looking over at Naruto who looked too engrossed in his food to care...and Sakura was giving him the stink eye for some reason. So was he the only one that felt that?

Well whatever it was he shook it off as Teuchi re entered the room with Sakura's ramen. "Here you go missy!"

"Thanks." Sakura offered him a pretty smile before she started eating. Between mouthfuls she kept up conversation however. "So were you two training too?"

"Yes I was trying to teach Naruto the proper way to perform a clone jutsu."

Sakura nodded thoughtfully. "Chakra control isn't good then?"

"No not really. He seems to really struggle with it."

Naruto just looked between the two of them before shrugging and stuffing his face again.

"Well everyone has an area that they are best at, and another that they are worst at. Naruto may be bad at chakra control, however his chakra reserves are quite large. Add that to the fact that his endurance and stamina are very high...I think that in an odd way he does balance himself out." Sakura gave Naruto a playful look here. "But he is still a dork!"

"Hey! That wasn't very nice Sakura-chan!" Naruto finally protested once had had finished his second bowl. "I am amazing dattebayo!"

Sakura shook her head at him with a small smile playing at her lips. "I do think that you have a lot of potential Naruto. In fact I think that you will be able to be Hokage one day."

"Really? You really think so Sakura-chan?" Naruto's eyes got this sparkly wide eyed look to them and a small blush stained his cheeks.

"Yeah I do. From what I can see you have heart, you're not going to let anyone tell you what you can and can't do. I respect that Naruto."

His eyes softened on the young girl that seemed to have so much faith in Naruto when no one else really seemed to. She would be good for him, they would be good friends he was sure of it. No she would be good for both of them.

Shaking those thoughts away he returned to the earlier topic. "Speaking of training, what were you practicing today?"

She looked over at him in surprise. "Umm I was working on my taijutsu and elemental ninjutsu today. I think that after lunch I may go to the library and pick up another book on medical ninjutsu too. I've been practicing it lately because I want to be a top medical ninja one day. It's hard though because there aren't really any teachers here to learn from...so I'm working on everything just in case I don't find a teacher for a while."

"You already know elemental ninjutsu?" He asked in surprise. Elemental ninjutsu was not taught at the academy and most clans did not specialize in it besides the Uchiha clan and their fire techniques. Maybe he shouldn't be surprised though seeing as how she did come from the Land of Snow. Who knew how things worked there?

"Yeah I know some. I use ice style ninjutsu which is a combination of water and wind style. I can use the two separately however and that is what I have been working on lately. There are a lot of wind style users here in Konoha so I was thinking that maybe it would be good to focus on that since I'm already efficient with my ice style jutsu. It's best to have different things to work with right?"

"Yeah it is. Naruto and I are wind types too."

"Cool. Maybe I can help Naruto out after we're done here? I do know some wind jutsu that aren't that hard to learn. Maybe it would be good for him to try?"

He mulled her offer over in his head. If he let Naruto go with her he could take the chance to go and see the Hokage which he was eager to get done with. And maybe Naruto would actually learn something useful too. "If Naruto doesn't mind going with you while I take care of something then I'm ok with it."

Both of them looked at their third member expectantly. "Sure I don't mind training with Sakura-chan!"

"That settles it then." He jumped down off of the stool and threw down the money for their meal on the counter. "Well I'm going to go and get this taken care of so I'll catch up with you guys soon."

"Kay see ya!"

"Yeah bye brother!"

With a backwards wave he left the stand intent on meeting up with the Hokage, safe in the knowledge that Naruto and Sakura could look out for one another.

* * *

Hiruzen was looking over a mission report when he sensed a familiar chakra signature just outside of his office. For some reason he had not informed Minato of everything that had happened in his absence, nor had he informed him of Kushina. For that reason he was certain what the reason behind Minato's visit would be. "Minato come in." He called before the boy could even knock.

A second later the door opened revealing Minato's almost cherubic face. "Hokage-sama could I speak to you for a moment if you're not busy?"

"Of course Minato. Come in." Was now the time when he would have to tell Minato everything? And what would Minato's reaction be once he learned of Kushina? If he were being honest the reason he hadn't told Minato was for Sakura's sake. The two kunoichi were so alike that there was no doubt in his mind that Minato could start to see them for one being. That would not be fair to Sakura to have to be compared to some other female that she had never even met. "What did you want to talk about?"

Minato approached his desk and stopped in front of it with a dead serious look on his face. "I wanted to know what happened to the Uchiha clan..." Here he trailed off with a distant look in his eyes. "And I wanted to know who I have forgotten about."

In that moment Minato looked so unsure of himself, so lost that he didn't even really look like the same young man that he had known. Would he become worse after he found out? He sighed deeply and pushed his paperwork away for a later time. "Minato I will answer your first question, but before I answer the second I must ask you a question of my own."

Minato looked up in surprise. "What? What do you need to ask me?"

"I need to ask that you do not compare the past to this future. The people here however alike they may be to the people that you knew, are in fact different people. To look at them and only see them for the past would not be fair to them. In fact it would be cruel to do so. We must always remember the past Minato and look at it fondly, but we cannot continue to live in it. Doing so may end up destroying your future."

Minato nodded his acquiesce. "I will try my best Hokage-sama."

"Good. Now as for the Uchiha clan..." He steeled himself for the shock and possible anger that was to come once Minato found out. "The elders had them wiped out about a year ago."

"W-What?! What do you mean they ordered their extermination? On what fucking grounds?!" Minato cursed in anger and slammed his fists down onto the polished wood desk.

"The Uchiha clan was planning a coupe to take over the village."

"Why? Everyone was living peacefully in the village when I was the Hokage!" The mini Hokage was shaking with anger and distress. It was obvious that he was in complete and utter disbelief.

"It was discovered that the Nine tails attack was in fact orchestrated by a member of the Uchiha clan. That put the entire village at odds with the clan, and as a result they were segregated from the main population by order of the Elders. I did not want to take such drastic measures, however the elders acted without my knowledge."

"It couldn't have been anyone in the village! Fugaku wouldn't have done that! He wouldn't have allowed his clan to do something like that! Hokage-sama you knew him surely you can't think that he would...?" Minato trailed off and shook his head sorrowfully.

"No I don't think that they were responsible Minato. However the elders acted both in segregating them, and ordering their extermination without my consent." The only thing that he had been able to do was protect Sasuke as Itachi had requested. "They ordered Itachi to massacre his clan."

Blue eyes widened in horror. "They made Itachi...?"

"They did, however he was unable to bring himself to kill Sasuke. Before he left Konoha he asked me to protect Sasuke from the elders which I have done."

The room fell silent allowing Minato to take all of this in. Disbelief was clear in his eyes, as was anger. His body was shaking with all of the pent up emotion he was feeling at that moment. "I can't believe it."

"I am sorry Minato..." And he was because he knew how close Minato was to Fugaku and Mikoto as well as Itachi. Through Kushina he had forged familial like bonds with them that he had been robbed of due to Koharu and Homura's actions.

It took several long moments for Minato to regain himself and when he did he looked up with eyes still brimming with sorrow. "And the other thing?"

This topic was no less painful than the other one, even so he pushed ahead knowing that all it would take was mentioning her name. "Kushina."

And just like he knew it would Minato's face went completely pale. His eyes flashed with realization over just who that was. "Kushina?"

"She died after having Kurama extracted from her on the night that the Nine tails attack took place."

This time tears did well up in Minato's eyes flowing over and spilling down his face. "How did I forget about her?"

"Perhaps the use of so much chakra caused your body to suffer so much damage and trauma that you forgot about her? Or maybe it was you that did not want to truly remember? Who can say for certain?"

"Did you...?"

"She was buried in the shinobi cemetary where kunoichi are given a place of honor. You can go and see her grave anytime you would like." Unbidden a memory of Kushina and Minato came to his mind then. The night that Minato had proposed to Kushina by hiding her ring in a bowl of ramen, only for the redhead to completely miss that it was there and swallow it. Minato's panic had been quite amusing to watch, as well as Kushina's subsequent explosion of anger that Minato had done something so silly. The two of them really had loved one another. But people often loved and lost once then loved again and were allowed to be happy. Minato could find love again too if he wanted.

"That's why Sakura seemed so familiar to me...because she's almost exactly like Kushina." Minato looked up and met his eyes with still tearful ones of his own. "That's why you made me promise that."

"Yes that is why. As alike as the two are Minato, Sakura does not deserve to have you develope feelings for her based on who she reminds you of. She deserves genuine feelings after everything that she has been through. You cannot help but to see the things that make them alike, however you should also see the things that make them different."

"I know. There are obvious differences in each of them like Sakura's intelligence. Kushina was never as smart as Sakura is was she?"

"She was smart just not as much as Sakura is. And Sakura seems to be a little more girly than Kushina, not overly so but enough that it is obvious." Even with these little things it was almost scary how alike the two still were. If he didn't know any better he might think that Sakura was Kushina's reincarnation. However that was very unlikely. "Remember Minato, they are not the same person."

"Yeah I know...so what about Sakura's background?"

"That is something that you should ask her." He didn't feel right letting that information out without her consent.

"Right. Well I think I need to go now...and visit her." With that Minato turned and walked out the door without a backwards glance.

Leaving him alone and filled with regret and remorse. Of all the people that did not deserve this kind of pain...it was Minato.

* * *

'Kushina Uzumaki. Mother. Wife. And loyal Kunoichi of Konoha.'

He leaned down and sat a bouquet of flowers that he had picked up from Yamanaka flower shop at the base of the lavish grave marker. His mind was empty of everything but her. Fuzzy memories that were just starting to come back to her. When she had first come to the academy. When she had called him a feminine wimp. The time that she had beat him up because he had forgotten about their date. They were all coming back with startling clarity. And now he was left feeling anguished and pained.

"Hey Kushina..."

The grave marker sat in front of him looking so intimidating. Had he expected her to answer?

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about what happened. About all of it... I forgot about you for a while and I feel like shit about it."

The wind rushed past him ruffling the long chin length forelocks that she had always pulled on when she was playing with him.

"No matter what happens I won't ever forget about you again. No matter what happens you will always hold a special place in my heart."

If she was here he could imagine her rolling her eyes at him and calling him a baby. She always did hate mushy stuff.

"I love you." He gulped audibly whilst fighting back tears. "And I wanted you to know that I'm taking good care of Naruto. He's just like you, you know? He even goes around saying Dattebayo... I remember how you used to get so irritated with yourself when you would say dattebane by accident. I always thought it was cute though."

He ran one finger over the smooth rock absently.

"Kushina I wish that you could talk to me and tell me that you're alright."

Of course she couldn't say anything back...she was dead.

The silence was what was killing him the most. So unlike the usual time he had spent with her where she was yelling or pranking someone. Life had never been dull with her around.

A flash of pink hair and green eyes had him squeezing his eyes shut. Life was never dull around her either...or Naruto. Now his little infatuation with the pinkette made him feel like he was betraying Kushina. It also made him feel like he was using Sakura for how much she was like Kushina.

His heart gave a dull throb causing him to clutch at it. "There's this girl that I met here...and she's so much like you that it makes my heart hurt sometimes." Why was he telling her this? Would Kushina be angry at him for being so close to Sakura? It wasn't like he...felt the same things for her that he did for Kushina right? "She's loud and aggressive...and she has a verbal tick just like you. Instead of dattebane she yells shannaro instead. And she's girlier then you were though not by much. She's also a bookworm unlike you."

Someone intruded on his moment. "Minato?"

Spinning around he came face to face with Sakura of all people. "Sakura? How long have you been standing there?"

Her green eyes widened in surprise. "Umm I just got here."

The better question was what was she doing here? "Well what are you doing here?"

"Umm one of my kinsman is buried here so I was coming to visit. In fact you're sitting in front of her grave right now." With slow measured steps she approached him with her own bouquet in hand. She sat it down next to his and settled onto her knees.

That's right he had forgotten that the two were from the same clan because Sakura had a different last name. "Oh I had forgotten about that."

"Yeah but I never met her... I was born after she died." Sakura fidgeted with the rose bouquet she had brought so that she didn't have to face him. "I still come here though because no one ever seems to visit her...and my uncle used to tell me stories about her. She's inspired me so much and I haven't even met her before."

"Oh."

"Yeah. We were only distant relatives but...she's still someone that I look up to. Not many women have that kind of determination...we should all aspire to be like her right?" She offered him a small sad smile.

"Yeah." Now he didn't know how to feel at all. Here he was mourning over Kushina...and next thing he knows Sakura is here saying that they're distant relatives. Red lights were going off in his head.

"What are you doing here Minato? Did you know her or something?"

"You could say that." He didn't want to tell her how he knew Kushina because he was her widower. "She used to babysit my brother and I when we were infants."

"Oh I see." Sakura mused quietly. "Well I'm probably intruding so I should go now." She stood up and dusted her black shorts off before turning to leave.

"Wait!" He called out before she got too far.

She turned back to him in confusion. "Yes?"

"Thank you for bringing her flowers."

Sakura smiled at him softly. "You're welcome Minato."

As she walked out of the cemetary and left him alone his eyes were plastered to her. What was he going to do now? Kushina was gone and he still loved her... However he knew that he liked Sakura as more then a friend. Even remembering Kushina hadn't changed that. In his heart he felt like he was betraying them both.

Turning back to the gravestone he muttered. "What should I do Kushina? Could you ever forgive me for...?" He couldn't finish his question because he was overcome with grief and guilt. A part of him wanted to jump back into his once forgotten past, and another part of him wanted to look forward to a bright future.

* * *

I know it was soon...don't kill me! Anyways I didn't want him to be head over heels in love with Sakura then remember Kushina. I wanted him to remember Kushina at the beginning of his relationship so that he can work those feelings out whilst developing more feelings for Sakura. And I hope that the Minato/Naruto quality time was good enough. I will try to put more in every few chapters! R&R!


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for the delay guys my muse is kinda being a bitch right now! I plan on updating most of my stories in the next few days so hold tight okay? Anyways I do not own Naruto!

* * *

Screams. Snow stained red. Those that were once living laying dead on the frozen ground. Buildings lit up in fiery blazes casting an orange glow on the night sky.

Panting. Her small sandal covered feet pounded against the ground. Where was her uncle? Everyone was dead but surely her uncle was still alive! Hot puffs of air escaped her ice cold lips. She barely even felt the freezing air around her, she was native to this land after all.

Someone was chasing her. Always letting her stay a few steps ahead of them. Screams resounded from somewhere further back. They were killing her kinsman. The people that she had strived so desperately to prove herself to. The people that only looked at her and saw what was inside. The power that was inherent within her.

Terror made her heart clench in her chest. She had to find Arashi! He would know what to do! He would save her! She never wanted to admit that she was scared, but she was! She was so scared that she felt sick! Why were these people here? Didn't uncle Arashi say that no one knew about her? Yet here these people were chasing her down and slaughtering her people. All while she was too helpless to do anything about it.

Wasn't the war enough? Hadn't they suffered enough? There was so little left to even destroy anymore.

She skidded around a corner with her heart in her throat. "UNCLE!? UNCLE WHERE ARE YOU?!" She screamed as her long pink hair fell around her in a wild flurry. Her heart was pounding as she took off down the blood covered path again. Passing bodies of women, children, men... She looked at each of them, naming them and saying a prayer even though they hated her. The feeling had never been mutual.

It was fleeting. In this moment she couldn't afford to look at them for too long. Her eyes snapped back to the path ahead, away from them. Them. It sounded so wrong to refer to them like that. If she wasn't terrified she would have berated herself.

A hand grabbed the back of her cloak suddenly. She squealed and swung around wildly in a frenzy at her attacker. Only to stop when her uncle's bloody face was the one that she saw. His bright green eyes were glazed over, from blood loss, his red hair was plastered down to his head but it was so dark already that she couldn't see the actual blood that she knew was there. Shock.

She...she had thought that she wouldn't find him! "Uncle!" She cried in relief and threw her arms around his neck. It made her feel safe when he embraced her back. He always made her feel safe.

"Sakura." His solemn tone had her looking up at him in confusion.

"Yes uncle?"

"You have to do exactly as I say okay hime?" He sat her down on the ground and dug through his kunai pouch before handing her a large three pronged kunai.

Her eyes widened in realization. The kunai that Kushina-sama had given her uncle before she was born. 'To protect her.' Her uncle had repeated those words many times. A message from the fallen kunoichi. "No! No! I'm not going away! We can go together!" Tears burned at her eyes. No. She didn't want to be alone anymore! If he went away she would be alone forever!

"Sakura take it." Her uncle shoved it into her hands with a stern expression on his face. It was also unbearably sad the look that he wore. "I can't protect you from this hime. If I could I would, but I can't. That's why you have to use this and escape." He smiled at her sadly, at the tears now racing down her cheeks. "Pump your chakra into it and it will take you away from here."

"Uh uh! I'm staying! I don't want to go away and be alone again! We can run away from them! We can escape!" Her words died in her throat when he shook his head solemnly.

"There's no time Sakura! Just do as I say!" Something crashed behind one of the buildings nearby causing her uncle to snap around in that direction. He seemed to sense something because he turned back to her and pushed the kunai more into her small hands. "Use it Sakura! Your mother and father wouldn't want you to die here like this! Neither would I!" He held her hands in his and pressed a kiss to her tear stained cheek. "I love you Sakura. If no one in this world ever says that to you, just remember that I did. And that I meant it with all of my heart."

When she stood there refusing to move he reached forward and grabbed the tag attached to the end of the kunai. Something shifted in the air making her fly into a panic. Her wide eyed met his own verdant green ones and she held out a hand for him as he seemed to just fade away. "UNCLE!"

* * *

A loud ringing gasp escaped from her lips as she shot up in her bed with sweat clinging to her brow. She grabbed at her chest and doubled over herself letting her hair shield her from the world around her. The sunlight filtered in through the window casting a soft pink glow around her as it reflected off of her bright pink hair.

That nightmare. It was always that nightmare almost every night. Everytime she was forced to relive it her heart felt like it was dying a little bit more. After all of this time the pain had not dulled in the least.

Five years had passed since that night. Yet the pain never dulled or went away. She kept it locked inside of herself away from the world around her. Outside she was Sakura the bright girl that smiles at everyone, but on the inside she was sure that she was slowly dying. No one knew that however. No one would ever know what she was.

Brushing a hand through her long pink locks she swung her legs over the side of her bed and let them touch the cold wood floor below. Her face greeted her in the mirror beside her bed. Soft pale skin, big forehead, big apple green eyes, and long knee length pink hair. It was there, the same reflection every morning. For some reason that irritated her lately.

Pushing it aside she went about her morning routine. Showering. Eating. Dressing herself. Today was a very important day, the graduation exam. She was sure that she would pass, along with Minato, Naruto, and Sasuke. A few years ago she had been worried that Naruto wouldn't pass since he couldn't even do a basic clone jutsu, but now he could do one better. She smirked when she thought of what Iruka sensei, and Mizuki sensei would think when Naruto performed a shadow clone jutsu in front of them instead of a standard clone jutsu.

She finished tying her hair up into a high pony tail with a braided section on each side of the tail. Once she was finished she grabbed her necessary ninja tools and left her small apartment. It wouldn't do to be late today now would it?

* * *

He was chatting with Naruto while they waited for all of the students to arrive so that the exams could commence. They sat in the top row with a seat left empty between them for Sakura.

In the last five years the three of them had become almost inseparable. Sometimes that caused him a lot of grief and pain because of Kushina. He still hadn't come to terms with losing her and his 'friendship' with the pink haired kunoichi. Apparently five years wasn't enough time to get over the woman that he had thought was his soul mate.

The door sliding open had his head snapping up in excitement. A familiar head of pink hair walked in but she wasn't alone this morning. A familiar head of onyx hair was right beside her. Sasuke. He knew that Sakura and the Uchiha were friends. But for some reason the thought always made his body heat up in what he knew was anger. It always made him feel like shit afterwards because he was still pining over Kushina, yet here he was trying to deny Sakura her right to make friends and...other things. What it was that he felt for her, he wasn't sure yet. But what he was sure of was that his guilt over Kushina was beating him down.

That was why he tried to rationalize with himself that she was only twelve, and thus much too young for him. However by some miracle he too was in a twelve year old body as well. That little fact always beat the other arguments ass thoroughly. Which only left him more confused and pained in the end.

Sakura waved to Sasuke and left him to walk up the stairs towards them. The Uchiha only watched her go with narrowed eyes, eyes that drifted over to him and narrowed even further.

He only narrowed his own eyes in return before he broke contact to look at Sakura as she slid into her seat between them. "Morning Naruto! Morning Minato!" She offered them both a warm smile. Something flashed through her eyes contradicting her cheery exterior.

But it was gone too fast for him to grasp it. And there wasn't really time for that anyways because Mizuki stepped into the room and called the class to attention. "Alright! The Academy graduation exam will begin now! One by one we will call you in alphabetical order to be tested. First up is Aburame Shino!"

Well they had time to spare. "So Sakura are you feeling confident about today?" He turned to her and smirked at her. In the last five years he had found out that Sakura was a real fire cat. She was tough as nails and tenacious as...Kushina. His heart throbbed painfully in his chest again. It was always like this. One thing about her would remind him of Kushina which made him feel so guilty that he couldn't stand it. And then something that Kushina used to do would come to mind and remind him of something that Sakura did...which made him feel like he was using Sakura to substitute Kushina.

"Of course I am Minato! I have more than mastered the basic academy graduation requirements." Sakura replied whilst she absently twirled a lock of her pink hair around her finger. Her eyes were trained half on watching the students piling through the door, and half on looking back and forth between him and Naruto.

Her answer snapped him out of his stupor. "Yeah I know. So how is the medical ninjutsu coming?" He focused on something that was completely different about the two kunoichi, if only to keep himself from comparing them to one another. Though he was honestly interested in hearing about it as well. Sakura, like Rin had taught herself medical ninjutsu all on her own. And the pinkette showed an even greater aptitude for it than his old brunette student. If only the hospital would allow her to work there she would have already met a level similar to Rin's when she died. However for some reason that the Hokage would not disclose, Sakura was very disliked in the village. Like Naruto.

"It's coming." Sakura sighed as she watched Choji walk into the room after Shino came out. Her eyes became sad and despondent. "Though it would be coming along better if I was allowed to be an apprentice in the hospital."

At that Naruto perked up from where he had been drooling on his notebook. "Why won't they let you Sakura-chan?"

She bit her lip and shook her head sadly. "Because I'm foreign." Her eyes hardened.

She was shutting them out again. One thing that he had learned from Sakura was that she did wear her heart on her sleeve for the most part. But there were some things that she just would not talk about no matter how much she was prompted. There was a lot of pain in her. Suffering. Loneliness. He knew that she must have lost everything when she came here. And loss like that was not easy to get over. Maybe that was why she got along so well with Sasuke, and he with her?

"Sakura Haruno." Mizuki poked his head out the door to call her in. That same dark look rested in his eyes when he looked at her, as the look that rested in his eyes when he looked at Naruto.

"Well here I go guys! Wish me luck!" And she was gone in a blur of pink and red without a backwards glance.

Naruto frowned and turned to him. "You know, Sakura kinda reminds me of myself."

Looking up in surprise from where he had been watching the pinkette disappear into, he turned to his 'son' and raised a brow. "Oh? Why do you say that?" Of course he knew why Naruto felt that way, and that was for the simple fact that it was true. The two of them were alike in ways that baffled him sometimes.

"Well she's always lonely." Naruto turned back to the door where Sakura had disappeared into. "And no one really likes her besides me and you. But there's something about her that makes me feel even more upset at how she's treated, and that's the fact that she lost her home, family, everything she had. And look at how the villagers here treat her? Does she really deserve that?"

"No. No she doesn't deserve that." He agreed quietly while he stared at the door where she had disappeared into. For some reason Mizuki was grading their class alone and that worried him. The shinobi had no bones about letting everyone know that he disliked Sakura and Naruto. In his head he could rationalize why people disliked Naruto, he was a jinchuuriki, a vessel for the Kyuubi's power. However he could not understand why the villagers detested Sakura so much besides the fact that she was a foreigner. The Hokage was keeping an eve tighter lock on her past than he was on Naruto's. Yet people seemed to just see something in her, or perhaps some information had leaked. Whatever it was he really should delve into it. He would have already if he had not been so busy raising Naruto.

The door to the exam room opened up and Sakura stepped out with her head bowed low. She shut the door after herself and walked out the door into the hallways without looking back. Mizuki stepped out a second later and called out for Hinata to come in next. The small nasty smirk he sent the retreating kunoichi did not escape his notice.

He shot up in his seat to go after her but a sharp order from Mizuki had him settling back down in his seat. "If anyone leaves this room before they are tested they will automatically fail the exam!" Those ict blue eyes glared around the room at every student gathered, before they finally settled on Naruto last. A scathing look was directed in his son's direction before Mizuki turned and walked back into the exam room.

"Where did Sakura go? There's no way that she failed right bro?" Naruto stared at the door longingly hands twitching on top of the desk.

"No. There's no way that she didn't pass." Unless Mizuki did something. If the bastard did he was going to go to the Hokage and demand that he retest Sakura with another instructor. There was no way, absolutely no way that she failed.

With that last thought he settled back and waited for his turn to be tested. Multiple thoughts whirled around in his head as he watched students come and go smiling, or frowning depending on whether they passed or failed. And before he knew it his turn had come.

When his name was called he jumped up and hurried down the stairs to the exam room. The test was much the same as he remembered it. Show that you could perform the transformation jutsu, clone jutsu, replacement jutsu, substitution jutsu, etc... He passed it easily, all while glaring death at the instructor across from him. Sakura could do all of these techniques easily! And if his hunch was right Mizuki was going to pull something on Naruto as well. That was why, when he was given his headband he immediately took up a spot near the door when Naruto was called in. Students gave him odd looks but he pushed them aside while he listened.

Everything was going well. Each jutsu was called out and he could sense the chakra building and expanding with each technique.

The door beside him opened and Naruto came out with a headband in his hand much to his surprise. Mizuki came out a moment later with a scowl on his face and called in the next student.

His eyes met the other male's glare head on. Mizuki had known that he had been listening, if it hadn't been for that Naruto would have probably been failed for some bogus reason. Which is probably what Mizuki had done to Sakura. "Come on Naruto. We should go and find Sakura."

Naruto perked up as if he had forgotten for a moment. "Oh right! I wonder what happened? Those techniques were all things that you and Sakura helped me out on. I know that she can do them so how did she fail?"

"Don't know. But I plan on finding out."

* * *

After the test was let out and the other students gathered around outside to wait for their parents she was left sitting on the swing under the tree in the courtyard alone. She had been the only one that hadn't passed and everyone knew it. The adults all glared at her while the other students laughed and pointed at her like she was some kind of freak. Well she was.

The test had been easy for her. A walk in the park. But when the end came and she waited to be handed her headband Mizuki had refused to give it to her. At first she had been angry and had demanded that he give her a headband, she had passed the test after all. But he had brought that up... Her dirty little secret that she wanted no one to know about. He had threatened to tell everyone about it. So she had left without her headband, because she didn't want people to hate her even more than they already did.

She wasn't stupid. She knew that at this point the villagers hated her for being a foreigner in their home. They didn't trust her, warned their children to stay away from her. But up until this point, 'that' had never been factored into their hatred.

Tears gathered in her eyes and slid down over her pale cheeks. What was she even thinking? A snow kunoichi becoming a real kunoichi of Konoha? Everything was standing in her way. Everything was always standing in her way. If only her uncle had just let her stay, she could've at least died with a person that truly cared for her.

"Sakura?"

Hastily wiping away the tears that were streaking down her cheeks she turned and plastered on her best fake smile. Or what she thought was her best, it didn't seem to convince Minato or Naruto at all. "You guys passed? Good job Naruto!"

Both of them shared a look with one another before Minato took a step towards her. "Sakura what happened in the test room? There's no way that you failed the test, we know you better then that." He frowned at her, azure eyes darkening.

"I failed the clone test." She lied easily. Part of her knew that they wouldn't buy it, but another part of her was desperate to keep them from knowing what she really was. She didn't want to lose two of the only people that were really her friends. "I guess I was too wound up and I messed up."

Both of them scowled at her. "Bullshit." They deadpanned simultaneously, Minato did glare at Naruto for his language before he looked back at her. "What really happened? And don't lie Sakura."

She turned away from him and hopped off of the swing she was sitting on. No. She wasn't going to say anything about this. "I'm telling the truth. If you don't want to believe it then don't. The fact of the matter is that I did fail, and failures don't get rewarded." With that she walked away from them leaving them in a shocked silence. Angst and anger were welling up inside of her. Angry tears were gathering in her eyes again but she fought them back as she walked out of the courtyard with her head held high. The other kids were still making fun of her. Pointing. Laughing. Sneering. Glaring. She ignored it all and left everything behind her. At least for now.

Her feet carried her through the village to the lake where she often trained with Sasuke. This place had become a sort of safe haven for her. Often times she just came here to think about her life and how it was playing out. But today she wanted...something...an out for this anger she felt. Life just wasn't fair!

She stopped at the end of the dock and glared down at the water, at her reflection staring back at her with cold spiteful green eyes. Something in her snapped. Red. All she could see was red. The wind whipped up around her wildly sending her clothes and hair fluttering wildly around her. But she didn't care! All she cared about was the face staring back at her. Large blue eyes. No eye whites discernible. The monster within coming to the surface with all the force of a tsunami. But she wouldn't be what they wanted her to be! This power would not control her! Only she decided her own fate.

Anger built up to a boiling point, she raised one hand swirling with pure destructive energy and slammed it into the lake surface creating a massive shockwave of energy that crashed through the surrounding trees with a loud boom. This power was holding her back. She wanted to just be rid of it for good!

* * *

Hiruzen leaned back in his chair heavily when Minato finished explaining what had transpired during the graduation exams. Some part of him should have known that Mizuki would try something like this. Unfortunately the soft part of him, the part that wanted to believe that everyone could change wanted to believe that Mizuki could be pulled back from the darkness.

But apparently he was further gone than he had thought. Using a forbidden secret against a small girl just because of his own dislike of her kind. A path that no one ever chose of their own volition. "Minato please go and find Sakura and send her here." He had to make this right and set an example for his people. No one would be exempt from being rewarded so long as they were loyal to Konoha. And if Sakura was anything it was loyal.

"Hai Hokage-sama." The shrunken Hokage disappeared with a poof leaving him alone in the room. Now what was he to do with Mizuki?

* * *

Someone chuckled behind her causing her to snap around so that she was face to face with Mizuki. Again. The same sadistic smirk was on his face. The same one that he had given her when he had blackmailed her into failing.

"What do you want? I already did what you asked me to! I failed the exam! What more do you want from me?" She growled out angrily. Why was he looking at her like that? Why did everyone always look at her like that?

His eyes narrowed on her. "Creatures like you are what's wrong with this village." A smirk tugged at the corners of his lips as he reached into his kunai pouch and retrieved a kunai twirling it around his fingers haphazardly.

Her blood ran cold. The look in his eyes shifted to something that she knew all too well. That look of hate. Not just a fleeting hate, but a hate that pulled from the deepest part of one's being. She tensed and retrieved her own kunai before positioning it defensively in front of her.

If possible the smirk on his face became even wider. A crazed look entered his eyes then as his form wavered before he lunged at her.

A sharp clang rang out when she blocked his attack with her own kunai. How many times had she been here before? Someone baring down on her with the intent to kill her?

She focused chakra into her feet and legs and disengaged from his kunai so that she could throw herself back across the surface of the lake. Water went flying around her as she skidded across the surface, mid way she flipped her kunai around and tossed it at him. Unsurprisingly be blocked it while she hastily flew into the hand signs for the water release: Wild water wave.

He rushed her across the surface of the water flinging kunai at her in quick succession.

She jumped to the side and opened her mouth releasing a strong torrent of water in his direction. It smashed into him forcing him back a good distance and giving her time to fly into another series of hand signs. When she finished her hand signs she quickly retrieved several shuriken with her right hand before tossing them whilst simultaneously focusing her chakra into her hands and bringing them together with a loud smack. A gust of wind shot out from her hands catching her shuriken and sending them shooting towards Mizuki at a much greater speed.

They slammed into him causing him to disappear in a poof of smoke. Damn substitution jutsu!

The air behind her shifted. Spinning around she brought another kunai up and blocked one that was poised for her throat. She pushed him back and focused more chakra into her legs. Rushing forward she slashed out at him with her kunai.

They clashed several times as the world around them seemed to move in slow motion. Over and over again her arms shook from the impact of slamming against one another. No one was going to kill her here! Not for something that she didn't want to be!

"You really should be concentrating on your battle beast!" His arm disappeared a split second before pain exploded in her side.

She flew back across the water just barely managing to keep herself on the surface. Blood spewed from her side in an angry red torrent. She gritted her teeth and glared at the male that was leering at her with obvious amusement. So he thought that she was going to let being impaled in the side slow her down? She smirked darkly and gathered her healing chakra into the hand that she was using to clutch at herself. "Surprised?" She mocked his stunned look.

He scowled at her and pulled his fuma shuriken off of his back. Twirling it at his side almost playfully he smirked at her again. "I hate your kind. Everyone hates your kind. The best thing that I can do for my village is to kill you."

The wound in her side stopped bleeding. She stood up with it still throbbing painfully and faced him down again. "That makes two of us." She replied to the first part of his statement. Or maybe she was agreeing to all of it. At this point she didn't even really know anymore. She fell into another crouch and readied herself.

"SAKURA!"

Both of them tensed at the unexpected voice calling out for her. Minato? She would have looked to see if it really was him if it hadn't been for the fact that Mizuki made a move for her at that exact moment. Before she could blink he had tossed his weapon at her causing her to duck and throw herself to the side to avoid it. She retaliated and tossed her own kunai at him. Minato could wait. He didn't need to get himself dragged into this mess.

She...she didn't want him to get hurt over her. A flash of yellow and blue was caught in her peripheral vision. But she couldn't concentrate on it as Mizuki lunged for her again. Only this time his kunai never met the one that she had retrieved from her own pouch.

Minato seemed to materialize in front of her out of nowhere and block Mizuki's latest attack. "What the hell are you doing?!" He yelled at the older male.

"Taking care of a menace!" Mizuki spat back angrily. "Move aside Minato! That monster deserves to die! Stand down for the sake of your village!"

All her eyes caught was a blur of blue, yellow, green, and pale blue before Minato had somehow managed to disarm and toss Mizuki back across the surface of the lake. Her friend was quick to follow and pin the older male down with a swiftness and precision that actually surprised her.

She had never seen a look of such anger and disdain on Minato's face before. It was like he was only seconds away from actually killing Mizuki. She snapped to the side in surprise when several anbu appeared from nowhere and rushed over to where Minato had Mizuki pinned. Part of her tensed waiting for them to take her into custody as well, but surprisingly they didn't. They just yanked Mizuki up with him cursing and glaring at her the entire way.

While the anbu carted him away Minato walked back across the surface of the water towards her. "Are you alright Sakura?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." What could she say in this situation? Even if it had been in self defense she had still attacked a Konoha shinobi. Would they try and exile her? Would they put her to death for it? Something was waving in front of her face. She snapped out of her stupor and met Minato's wide worried eyes. "Y-yeah?"

"We should go see Hokage-sama. He'll want to know about this." Minato offered his hand to her.

Everything in her balked back. No way! If she went to the Hokage she was as good as dead! Part of her argued with that. Hokage-jii san had always been nice to her... Would he still be nice to her when she told him what happened? What if they wanted to get rid of her now?

"Don't worry Sakura. Hokage-sama will understand." Minato reassured her.

That warm feeling that she seemed to be getting a lot lately when she was around him reared it's head. What it was she wasn't sure. But for whatever reason she took his hand and let him lead her back towards the village. A small part of her hummed happily at how good holding his hand felt.

* * *

Minato was livid. Sakura had explained everything from the exam room, to when he had found her fighting with Mizuki. He had known that the chuunin had done something to her, but he had not expected Mizuki to attack her like he had. The man was completely demented! What he wanted to know was, what grounds did he have for feeling that way?

Sakura had referred to whatever he had used against her as 'that.' There was no further explanation given, but the Hokage didn't need anything else to know what she was talking about. However he, was completely in the dark about what 'it' was.

Unfortunately that was going to have to be discussed later because Hokage-sama had asked Sakura to run through the required techniques for the graduation exam so that he could judge her himself. At first she looked surprised that he had asked, but she had quickly moved through the techniques that were on the test.

And of course she performed every one flawlessly. Just as both of them had expected her to. When she finished up with the clone jutsu, five good quality clones for good measure, Hokage-sama reached into his desk and retrieved a standard issue Konoha headband.

Sakura's eyes lit up.

"I apologize for what happened with Mizuki today Sakura. However I hope that my own approval is good enough for you to take this headband and serve Konoha as one of our shinobi. That is if you can forget about what one of your own has done to you this day." He pushed the cloth across the desk and pulled back expectantly.

"You...I...but he! Can I really?" Sakura stuttered out with quivering lips. She looked like she wanted to cry when Hokage-sama nodded at her. She reached out for the cloth and metal band and shakily tied it on top of her head like a hair ribbon.

"Now about Mizuki." Hokage-sama started. "He will be placed in Konoha's maximum security prison where he can do no more harm to you Sakura."

All of their eyes trailed down to the torn part of her dress. "Oh. I healed that already." Sakura smirked nervously at both of them.

"I can see that." Hokage-sama chuckled at her with the familiar twinkle in his eye. The old man really did like Sakura a lot. "Well I do need to be getting back to work so you two should run along now. Don't forget that tomorrow morning at eight you have to meet at the academy for your team assignments."

"Hai Hokage-sama!" He and Sakura chorused together before they both turned and walked out the door.

So many unanswered questions that he had for her. The pink haired kunoichi that was full of secrets...and drew him in making him want to understand all that made her Sakura. But for now he would let it go and leave her ot her moment of happiness. After what she had gone through today she deserved that at least. Come tomorrow however...he was going to start working out those secrets of hers. Even if he had to cause himself more pain by getting closer to her.

* * *

R&R! Sorry for the delay guys! Muse has been a real jerk like I said! So I was working on some other stuff to take my mind off my normal stuff! Anyways I'll try to keep updates coming a little more often if I can.


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